


Through Thick And Thin

by Anxiouslykitty



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Attack, Blood and Injury, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Danger, Death Eaters, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fear of Death, Grief/Mourning, Hurt, Lesbian Relationship, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Reconnaissance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27096490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anxiouslykitty/pseuds/Anxiouslykitty
Summary: Poppy wants to help Minerva on a mission for the Order
Relationships: Minerva McGonagall/Poppy Pomfrey
Kudos: 17





	Through Thick And Thin

Minerva stood in front of the mirror in a room at The Hog’s Head. She was shifting and adjusting the Muggle dress she had put on to make it lay comfortably. Although she was familiar with wearing Muggle dresses it had been many years since she had any reason to wear one. Now with the Order back and missions for her to complete she was having to wear Muggle clothes more often. It wasn’t really the dress that bothered her. She grew up wearing Muggle clothing, but she was not as young as she was then. Her body was not the same it used to be and the Muggle dresses were less forgiving than robes. Even the dresses she wore under her robes were more forgiving than the Muggle dresses she had. She didn’t mind before, but now that Poppy was seeing her in one she felt more self conscious. She tugged at the midsection of the dress again in a vain attempt to feel more comfortable.

“You look beautiful Minerva. I don’t know why you fuss so much” Poppy said from behind her.

Turning around Minerva gave Poppy a pointed look. Poppy was also wearing a Muggle dress, though hers fit her much better than Minerva thought hers did. Poppy had let her red hair flow free and she was wearing a purple dress with white flowers on it. It hugged her curves beautifully and Minerva had trouble not to stare at the way Poppy’s body looked. Self conscious Minerva wrapped her arms around her stomach and stood staring at Poppy.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Minerva announced.

Poppy crossed to Minerva and put her hands on Minerva’s elbows.

“We’ve talked about this already. This is a two person mission and there’s no reason that I can’t be the second person” Poppy began. “It’s not dangerous. All we’re doing is going to an area of London to wait and observe to see if we spot any of You-Know-Who’s followers.”

“Everything is dangerous now,” Minerva replied. “I don’t want to put you in harm's way. It’s one thing for me to do work for the Order, but if anything happened to you.”

“It’s my choice Minerva” Poppy pushed. “Do you not think that it is difficult for me to watch you go out and risk your life? This mission requires people who will not be easily identified. That’s why Albus is sending you and who is less identifiable than me. With my hair down and this Muggle dress nobody would know who I was. We’ll be safe.”

Minerva dropped her head a little and took a deep breath. Poppy leaned up and kissed Minerva’s forehead. Minerva raised her head again and Poppy kissed her gently on the lips. Poppy stepped back and looked at Minerva quizzically. 

“Why are you hugging your middle like that” Poppy asked.

“It’s silly,” Minerva whispered.

“If it’s bothering you it’s not silly” Poppy replied.

Looking away from Poppy Minerva fidgeted nervously. She slowly let her arms fall away from her stomach to her sides.

“I feel fat in these Muggle dresses” Minerva whispered.

Without saying anything Poppy reached out and placed her hands on Minerva’s sides gently rubbing her thumbs on Minerva’s stomach. Minerva wanted to squirm away from her grip, but she trusted Poppy. Poppy turned Minerva so that she was facing the mirror again. Poppy stayed behind her and wrapped her arms around Minerva’s stomach. She ran her hands back and forth across Minerva’s stomach. They both looked in the mirror. Minerva watched the path Poppy’s hands forged across her stomach. Poppy brought her hands up and crossed them over Minerva’s chest and hugged her tight.

“What do you see” Poppy asked.

“Poppy” Minerva whined.

“Do you know what I see” Poppy began. “I see the women who I love. She is beautiful and sexy and the farthest thing from fat. I love your body Minerva every inch of it. I think this dress suits you well and the green compliments your eyes.”

Minerva smiled at Poppy in the mirror and brought her own hands up to cover Poppy’s. She closed her eyes in contentment as Poppy placed a few small kisses on her neck. Poppy pulled away and Minerva turned to face her.

“We had better get going or will miss the times where the supposed sightings have been taking place” Poppy instructed. “You should wear your hair down. You’re recognizable with your hair up.”

“I’m sure it will be fine up” Minerva replied and Poppy shrugged. 

Minerva hung her and Poppy’s robes in the closet and grabbed the small bag she was bringing. She put her and Poppy’s wands in the bag and looked around to make sure they had everything they needed. They were using the Hog’s Head because Albus didn’t want anyone seeing Minerva walk around town or the castle in Muggle clothes and Aberforth had agreed to let Minerva use one of the rooms to store her clothes and things for her missions. She grabbed Poppy’s hand and with a nod of approval from Poppy she apparated them to London.

They had apparated to a part of London near where they were going. Minerva had picked the location because she had been there before and knew that not many Muggles walked around the area. It was a mile walk to the area where some people were saying they had seen some of You-Know-Who’s followers. Albus wanted Minerva to wait in the area to see if she recognized anybody. This area of London was almost completely Muggle. At first Minerva had wanted to just come in her animagus form, but Albus felt that a cat would stand out too much in the industrial area.

They walked together in silence looking around as if they were window shopping. When they arrived on the street Albus had told them about Poppy spotted a cafe that had an outdoor eating area. 

“We could sit and have a coffee. It would give us a good view of the whole street” Poppy suggested.

Minerva nodded her approval and they both made their way towards the cafe. Poppy sat at a table outside while Minerva went in and bought two coffees and some pastries. Minerva was more comfortable with Muggle money and Poppy didn’t want to draw attention to herself by messing up paying for something. They sat quietly eating their pastries and sipping their coffee. Each was facing so they could look down the street. An advantage to having Poppy along was that she had been at the school almost as long as Minerva. They both had known many of You-Know-Who’s followers from when they were children. If anyone could spot a magical person in Muggle London it was Poppy and Minerva.

“I think we might be drawing attention to ourselves by not talking,” Poppy said.

Minerva looked back from the street and looked at Poppy and then around at the other patrons. One man sitting by himself in the corner of the outdoor area was looking at them. Minerva looked back at Poppy and smiled. She wasn’t used to having someone with her on missions. She was usually sent to reconnaissance and thus was by herself. She hadn’t thought how odd it must look for two women to sit together and say nothing.

“Yes I think you’re right” Minerva smiled.

“Who did Albus say was spotted in this area” Poppy asked.

“He didn’t tell me,” Minerva explained. “He wanted us to just look for anything that seemed out of the ordinary and if we happened to see someone from our world we recognized to note who it was.”

Poppy nodded gently and continued to sip her coffee. They both continued looking up their respective sides of the street. Minerva was uncomfortable being this exposed out in the open. Poppy looked almost relaxed sitting across from her drinking her coffee. Minerva kept her hand on the purse that held their wands. She wanted to be sure she could protect Poppy if something went wrong. 

“Sweetheart you look tense” Poppy pointed out.

The use of her pet name made Minerva look around before settling her gaze on Poppy. They were very clear about not letting anyone know they were in a relationship. She didn’t want anybody knowing that she and Poppy were together in an effort to protect Poppy from anyone who would use her to get to Minerva. Also not everyone was as comfortable with same sex couples as they should be. Although in the wizarding world it wasn’t taboo it still wasn’t often talked about. In the Muggle world it was frowned upon by a lot of people. She was surprised Poppy would break their rule especially now.

“Don’t call me that here” Minerva snarled looking around again to make sure nobody heard.

“Minerva, who is going to care here. Nobody knows us, that's the whole point of this mission isn’t it” Poppy replied.

Poppy leaned over the table and gave Minerva a quick peck on the lips before Minerva could stop her. Minerva pulled away, knocking her coffee over on the table. She and Poppy frantically grabbed napkins cleaning up the mess. 

“Poppy that…” Minerva looked up at Poppy and saw a man she recognized standing a few feet away staring at them. She froze and reached for her bag under the table. Poppy was unaware of what was happening because she had her back to the man. Minerva couldn’t place his name but he was staring at her frozen in the middle of the walkway. Two men joined him and he said something which caused them both to look at Minerva. Instantly she knew they had recognized her. All three men pulled out their wands and pointed them at Minerva and Poppy.

“Get down,” Minerva shouted.

It all happened so fast. One of the men sent out a stunning charm from his wand that hit Poppy in the back. Minerva managed to dodge the spells from the other two men and she dropped below the table. She was able to drag Poppy to the ground and flip the table over. Spells were flying past the table hitting the walls of the cafe sending bricks everywhere. She leaned up over the table and sent off a few stunning spells at the three men who were running towards her. Bricks flew from the other buildings across the street as a few of her spells missed. She managed to hit two of the men leaving only one of them. She dropped behind the table again as he shot off a spell. As the green sparks went past her she knew it was the killing curse. Her heart was pounding and she looked down and Poppy’s unconscious body. With a deep breath she popped back above the table and shot another stunning spell just barely missing the man as he shot another killing curse at her. She dodged it and sent her own killing curse back hitting the man who dropped dead. 

As Minerva’s mind began to focus she became aware of what was going on around them. There was screaming everywhere and people running around them. The area was covered in rubel from where spells had missed their target and hit buildings. Minerva could hear sirens coming from somewhere not too far away and she knew that she needed to get Poppy away before Muggle authorities showed up. She looked down at Poppy’s unconscious body and a wave of nausea came over her. She rolled Poppy onto her back and looked her over. A cut above her eye was bleeding, but she was breathing. 

Minerva looked around to see if any Muggles could see them. When she could see nobody around she grabbed her purse from behind the table and grabbed Poppy. She used all her strength to pull Poppy up. She had her arms under Poppy’s armpits and she stood pulling Poppy up with her. Poppy was completely limp in Minerva’s arms and it was taking everything Minerva had to keep her standing. With great effort Minerva focused her mind and apparated them both to the Hog’s Head. 

They landed in a heap on the floor of the Hog’s Head. When Minerva opened her eyes it wasn’t the bedroom but Aberforth’s living area. As she turned her head to look for Poppy her brain became aware of a searing pain in her right side. She looked down and saw that she’d been splinched. She was bleeding from what must be a large gash under her dress and she was starting to feel her head swimming.

“Aberforth” she gasped.

Minerva looked back to her other side to see Poppy lying there still unconscious. Her dress was torn and her body was crumpled. Minerva could see she was still breathing and she didn’t see any new blood that might have come from a splinching. Minerva took short hard breaths trying to stay conscious. She turned her head back to the side where she was injured. She could see her wand lying a few inches from her right arm. Slowly she tried to stretch her arm to reach it and gasped with the pain that rushed through her from her side. She could feel moisture leaking from her eyes. With great difficulty she pushed through the pain inching her fingers across the floor until they closed around the wand. She shot off sparks that made a loud crack before the wand fell from her hand.

Aberforth’s large form came barreling into the room and rushed to Minerva’s side. Minerva could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness. She couldn’t feel her hands or feet and her head spun. She tried to look at Aberforth, but her head fell to the other side. She was looking into Poppy’s uncious face as she began to fade away.

“Minerva stay with me” Aberforth grumbled.

The last thing she felt was her body being lifted from the ground before she went unconscious. 

When Minerva woke up she could tell she was lying in a bed. She raised her head a bit to look around and recognized that she was in the room that Aberforth had given her in the Hog’s Head. She let her head rest back on the pillow and tried to piece together everything that happened. As it all began to come back to her she looked around for Poppy. There was a small cot a few feet from the bed that had been conjured up and Poppy was laying on it. When Minerva tried to sit up she winced at the pain in her body. She looked down at her side where she could see a mostly healed splinching mark through a large rip someone had made in her dress. The rest of the pain was coming from her knees and hips. She pushed herself up and looked down at her body. She had bruises on her knees and she could tell there were probably more on her hips.

“You’re awake” Poppy said weakly from the cot.

Minerva looked over towards Poppy and saw her gently sitting herself up on the edge of the cot. Minerva wanted to get up to stop her, but she wasn’t sure her body would let her. She was so happy to see Poppy alive. This was exactly what she had feared would happen when Poppy had wanted to come with her. Poppy stood from the cot and swayed a little before walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed by Minerva. She gave Minerva a small smile and reached out for Minerva’s hand.

It was too much for Minerva. She looked away from Poppy and tried to calm herself down. Her brain was processing too many emotions. It was all crashing over her. The anger and fear and frustration. She was so mad at herself for letting Poppy come with her. She was mad at Poppy for kissing her in public and distracting her. The fear of seeing Poppy lying unconscious in the middle of a battle had overwhelmed her and now she kept seeing that image flash through her mind. She was frustrated with herself that she hadn’t been able to take them men out before they could cause so much damage. Then there was the grief. She had to kill someone. It had been decades since she killed someone in battle and it felt even worse than it had before. 

“Minerva why won’t you look at me” Poppy whispered.

Minerva tried to swallow her anger but she couldn’t seem to control it. It creeped up in her throat and she shook with the effort to control all the emotions she was feeling. She turned and looked in Poppy’s eyes and lost control.

“I should never have let you come with me,” Minerva shouted. “You should have never kissed me like that in public. I was distracted and we drew attention to ourselves. You almost died for that. Was it really worth it to push the rules and try to catch me off guard by kissing me in the middle of a mission. Was that something you really wanted to die for. That was childish and foolish and…”

Poppy slapped Minerva across the face and stood up. Minerva grabbed her face and couldn’t believe Poppy had slapped her. Poppy turned her back on Minerva and Minerva could see she was trembling. The anger was leaving Minerva and she was starting to see that she shouldn’t have yelled at Poppy. She had never yelled at Poppy before. Poppy was a very sensitive person and Minerva knew that what she had just said had probably gone straight to Poppy’s heart.

“You’re mad at me” Poppy said, her voice cracking. “Of course you’re mad at me. I almost got us both killed.”

Poppy turned back towards Minerva and there were tears streaming down her face. She was shaking and Minerva wanted to reach up and grab her. Her heart was breaking for Poppy. 

“I wasn’t trying to catch you off guard” Poppy choked out. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I slipped and called you sweetheart and when you got upset I just did what I would have done normally and I forgot what we were doing there. I didn’t think about it and we almost died.”

Poppy let out a sob and covered her face. Minerva pulled herself from the bed and flinched as the pain radiated through her body. She could tell Aberforth had done his best but he was no healer. She wrapped her arms around Poppy and pulled her tightly against her body. Poppy’s face burrowed into Minerva’s shoulder. Minerva held Poppy tight as she shook with the force of her sobs. Poppy was struggling to keep herself upright and Minerva couldn’t hold her. Despite the protest of her knees Minerva guided them both to the ground. She pulled Poppy between her legs and held her tight to her body. Poppy slipped her hands from her face and gripped onto Minerva tightly and she continued to cry into Minerva’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry Poppy” Minerva whispered. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I know you didn’t mean for anything bad to happen. It was my fault I should have been more firm. I should have kept you from coming with me. I should never have put you in that position.”

The door opened and Aberforth began to walk in. He stopped when he saw the two women wrapped in an embrace on the floor. Minerva was embarrassed to be found like this. They had gone to a great deal of trouble so that nobody would know that they were a couple and in one day it was falling apart. Aberforth nodded at Minerva and quietly backed out of the room and shut the door. Minerva was appreciative of Aberforth's ability to read the situation. He was always more aware of things like this than Albus was. 

Minerva leaned back against the bed a little because the weight of holding herself and Poppy up was hurting her side and hips a great deal. As she moved back Poppy clutched tight to Minerva’s dress. Minerva rubbed Poppy’s back gently and kissed the top of her head.

“What did you have to do” Poppy asked.

Minerva looked down at the top of Poppy’s head. She hadn’t pulled herself away from Minerva at all. She had turned her head a bit so that her face was almost visible allowing her to talk. She didn’t know if she wanted to tell Poppy what had happened. Poppy had been unconscious before she had been able to look and see how many people were attacking them. As far as Poppy knew it could have been a small battle that caused little damage. All Poppy knew for certain was that she had gotten stunned and that Minerva had gotten splinched.

“There was a man who recognized me. I don’t remember his name. I remember him as being a student, but that’s all. Two others joined him and when he pointed me out they recognized me as well” Minerva explained.

The weight of the emotions of the day began to overwhelm Minerva. She took a deep shaky breath. Closing her eyes she tried to keep from letting the tears that had snuck into her eyes from falling. It wouldn’t do any good for her to start crying too. Poppy was already upset enough and this would only upset her more.

“What did you have to do” Poppy asked again.

“I was able to stun two of them with some difficulty. The one who recognized me first. He was running towards us and he was using the killing curse. I tried…” Minerva stopped.

It felt like she couldn’t say the words. If she said the words she would lose control. What little control she had was already slipping. She kept her eyes closed tight and bit her tongue. Poppy pulled out of her arms, but Minerva wouldn’t open her eyes. She felt Poppy place her hands on either side of Minerva’s face. Minerva shook her head trying desperately not to cry. Poppy kept her hands on Minerva’s cheeks. Finally Minerva opened her eyes and looked at Poppy. Minerva’s face crumpled and she started to cry. She gasped for breaths and struggled to slow them down.

“I killed him,” Minerva choked out.

“Oh Minerva” Poppy cooed.

Tears were pouring down Poppy’s face just as much as they were Minerva’s. Poppy pulled Minerva to her and kissed her forehead and then pulled Minerva’s head to her chest. Minerva curled into Poppy’s body. Poppy wrapped her arms around Minerva’s body and pulled her whole body forward. Poppy rocked Minerva slowly and gently and they both cried.

\-------------------------------

When Aberforth came back to the room he knocked gently before entering. He didn’t want to interrupt the way he had earlier. As he cracked the door open he looked in first. Minerva and Poppy were still on the floor. Minerva was the one who was now curled into Poppy. They were leaning precariously against the side of the bed and they both appeared to be asleep. How they had managed to stay upright while sleeping Aberforth had no idea, but they didn’t look comfortable. They were clinging to each other like the other was going to slp away if they didn’t hold on tight enough.

Aberforth walked as quietly as he could into the room. He walked passed the women to the bed and pulled the sheets all the way to the end of the bed. He went back to the two women and bent down next to Minerva. He gently removed Poppy’s arms from around Minerva and released Minerva’s grip on Poppy. With very little effort he lifted Minerva from the ground and placed her gently in the bed. He then returned to Poppy and lifted her from the floor and carried her around to the otherside of the bed and laid her down next to Minerva. He pulled the covers over both women. 

He hadn’t yet told Albus that Minerva’s mission had gone wrong. He figured that it wouldn’t take long for Albus to hear about whatever had happened. All Poppy had been able to tell him when she had woken up was that they were on a mission and they had been discovered. By the amount of dust and blood on both women Aberforth knew that it hadn’t been a small something that had happened. It had been about six hours since he had found Minerva and Poppy on the floor of his living room. He figured he didn’t have much time before Albus would come barging in looking for them.

Pulling out his wand Aberforth performed a few basic diagnostic spells on both women. They were both doing better than they had been when they arrived. He was hoping that once Poppy was well enough she would be able to heal Minerva properly. He had done his best to fix the spliching but he wasn’t sure it had been enough. For now he would let them both sleep. 

\-------------------------------------

When Minerva woke she was back in the bed and she couldn’t remember getting there. She looked next to her in the bed and could see Poppy sleeping soundly next to her. She reached her hand under the covers to find Poppy’s hand and grabbed in gently. Minerva looked around the room and stopped when she saw Albus sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Albus stood and walked to the bed looking down at Minerva. 

“Minerva, I’m glad to see you're okay,” Albus said.

“Albus, the mission didn’t go as planned” Minerva began. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake and we were recognized. I had to defend us and I had to…”

“Minerva relax” Albus instructed. “I already know a great deal of what happened and whatever else you need to tell me can wait.”

“I’m sorry Albus” Minerva whispered.

“Why did you not tell me that you were taking Poppy with you” Albus asked.

“You told me to take someone not easily recognized and when I was talking to Poppy she wanted to come. I shouldn’t have let her. I know I messed up” Minerva replied. 

“She’s not officially part of the Order for a reason, Minerva. We need her to stay safe and alive so that we have someone who has the training required to help the rest of us when we get injured” Albus lectured. “Now she got injured and you got splinched. Aberforth did his best, but he says that you are still injured and require her medical attention. What would we have done if you had been too injured for Aberforth to mend you?”

“I...I didn’t…” Minerva stammered.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you and Poppy were in a relationship” Albus asked.

“We wanted...I wanted to keep it a secret. If anyone knew there was someone I loved that person would be at risk. You-Know-Who’s followers have no qualms about killing or attacking loved ones in an effort to get to Order members” Minerva explained.

“You love her” Albus asked.

“I love her more than anything” Minerva began. “We’ve been together for almost ten years. What I did today almost cost me the love of my life. I don’t know if I will be able to forgive myself for putting her in harm's way.”

Minerva felt Poppy squeeze her hand under the covers. She jerked her head over to look at Poppy and saw her smiling back at her. Poppy sat herself up and leaned against the headboard. Minerva tried to do the same but the pain in her side wouldn’t let her. Poppy reached over and pulled the sheets down just enough to look at the rip in Minerva’s dress where you could see the splinching area.

“Albus it’s nice to see you” Poppy began. “Can you please find Minerva’s purse, it has my wand in it?”

Albus looked around the room and couldn’t find it so he left to ask Aberforth if he had seen Minerva’s purse. Once Albus left the room Minerva tried to sit up again and Poppy put her hands gently on Minerva’s shoulders to keep her from sitting up.

“I think Aberforth did a decent job trying to mend this splinching but it didn’t heal properly. I need to fix it or you're going to keep hurting yourself” Poppy explained.

Minerva rested back and smiled up at Poppy. She reached her hand up and placed it gently on Poppy’s cheek. 

“Do you forgive me” Minerva asked.

Poppy furrowed her brows and leaned over closer to Minerva’s face.

“For what sweetheart” Poppy asked.

“For putting you in harm's way. For yelling at you” Minerva responded.

Poppy leaned down and kissed Minerva hard on the lips. Minerva kissed her back passionately until Poppy pulled back. Poppy grabbed Minerva’s hand that was on her cheek and pulled it down and held it in her lap.

“You don’t need my forgiveness for putting me in harm's way. I put myself there. As for yelling at me. I forgive you. I know that you were extremely upset and rightfully so. You would never do something to hurt me and I know that. Do you forgive me for hitting you” Poppy asked.

“Oh Poppy, I deserved that” Minerva chuckled.

Poppy smiled and kissed Minerva’s hand. Albus walked back in and Poppy released Minerva’s hand. Albus handed Minerva’s purse to Poppy. Poppy pulled her wand out of the purse and began performing diagnostic spells and a few healing spells. Minerva grimaced as one of the spells opened the wound on her side slightly and reclosed it properly.

“I’m sorry love,” Poppy said quietly.

After a few more spells and a quick diagnostic spell Poppy put her wand down. She helped Minerva sit up and Minerva stretched a bit to see how everything felt. She was happy to not have the pain in her side anymore and was even happier that her hips and knees no longer hurt. 

“All better,” Albus asked.

“I feel much better,” Minerva replied, smiling at Poppy.

“What are the repercussions of the attack” Poppy asked.

Albus’ face grew serious. 

“As far as you’re concerned Poppy nobody knew it was you that was with Minerva. I didn’t even know until I got here” Albus began. “Minerva on the other hand. You were recognized and sources are saying that information is being passed around in an effort to get to you. There is some talk of a possible attack being planned against you the next time you are out of the castle.”

“We knew this was a possibility” Minerva began. “Everyone in the Order knows the risk being attacked and targeted for being in the Order.”

Albus nodded his head knowingly. Minerva felt Poppy move on the bed behind her. She turned and saw that Poppy was sitting on the edge of the bed with her back to Minerva and Albus. Minerva glanced from Poppy and back to Albus.

“Was there anything else Albus” Minerva asked.

“When you’re ready to go back to the castle send me an owl and I will apparate you into the castle grounds. I don’t want you walking around anywhere off castle grounds from now on” Albus instructed.

“Albus I won’t stay locked up when there is work to be done” Minerva snapped.

“The school year starts in two weeks” Albus began. “The plan always was that you would stop missions when the school year started.”

Minerva huffed a little and glared at Albus. She knew he was right and it irritated her. Even after today she didn’t want to just sit around while other people fought battles to protect the wizarding world. Her mind was pulled from her irritation when she heard Poppy sniffle. Minerva looked over at Poppy and could see she was covering her mouth with one of her hands. Minerva crawled across the bed and wrapped her arms around Poppy.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Albus said, striding quickly from the room closing the door behind him.

“Poppy what’s wrong” Minerva asked.

Minerva pulled back from Poppy and looked at her face. Poppy was crying and trying to wipe the tears from her face.

“I always knew we were all in danger” Poppy whimpered. “But to know that there are people who actively want you dead. Not just in general but you specifically.”

A sob escaped Poppy and she clamped her hand back over her mouth tightly. Minerva pulled her in close and cooed in her ear. She rocked Poppy gently and ran her hand through Poppy’s hair. Minerva had been through this before. In the first war she had been involved and had watched friends and family die. Losing James Potter had devastated her. Poppy on the other hand was kept out of everything to do with the first war. Albus had been sure that Poppy stayed in the castle and was kept out of the loop on all Order business. Minerva was the reason Poppy was involved this time around.

“Poppy, look at me,” Minerva instructed.

She sat back and put her hand under Poppy’s chin urging her to look up. Poppy tried to steady her breathing and looked up at Minerva.

“I’ll do as Albus asked. I’ll stay in the castle from now on. I promise I’ll do everything I can to stay out of harm's way” Minerva bagean. “I’m sorry I brought you into the Order. I should have hidden it from you. You didn’t have to go through this the first time and now I’ve brought you straight into the heart of everything. I’m so sorry.”

“I just don’t want to lose you” Poppy whimpered.

“I’ll do everything I can to make sure you don’t lose me,” Minerva said.

Minerva leaned forward and kissed Poppy passionately on the lips. Poppy kissed back and grabbed onto Minerva. They stayed like that holding tightly to each other until they had to pull apart to breathe. Minerva leaned her forehead against Poppy’s and closed her eyes. She would do everything she had to to help the Order and protect her students, but she was going to survive this war for Poppy. No matter what it took.


End file.
